This grand Scene of Business gives me an infinite Variety of solid and substantial Entertainments.  As I am a great Lover of Mankind, my Heart naturally overflows with Pleasure at the sight of a prosperous and happy Multitude, insomuch that at many publick Solemnities I cannot forbear expressing my Joy with Tears that have stolen down my Cheeks.  For this Reason I am wonderfully delighted to see such a Body of Men thriving in their own private Fortunes, and at the same time promoting the Publick Stock; or in other Words, raising Estates for their own Families, by bringing into their Country whatever is wanting, and carrying out of it whatever is superfluous.

Nature seems to have taken a particular Care to disseminate her Blessings among the different Regions of the World, with an Eye to this mutual Intercourse and Traffick among Mankind, that the Natives of the several Parts of the Globe might have a kind of Dependance upon one another, and be united together by their common Interest.  Almost every Degree produces something peculiar to it.  The Food often grows in one Country, and the Sauce in another.  The Fruits of Portugal are corrected by the Products of Barbadoes: The Infusion of a China Plant sweetned with the Pith of an Indian Cane.  The Philippick Islands give a Flavour to our European Bowls.  The single Dress of a Woman of Quality is often the Product of a hundred Climates.  The Muff and the Fan come together from the different Ends of the Earth.  The Scarf is sent from the Torrid Zone, and the Tippet from beneath the Pole.  The Brocade Petticoat rises out of the Mines of Peru, and the Diamond Necklace out of the Bowels of Indostan.

If we consider our own Country in its natural Prospect, without any of the Benefits and Advantages of Commerce, what a barren uncomfortable Spot of Earth falls to our Share!  Natural Historians tell us, that no Fruit grows Originally among us, besides Hips and Haws, Acorns and Pig-Nutts, with other Delicates of the like Nature; That our Climate of itself, and without the Assistances of Art, can make no further Advances towards a Plumb than to a Sloe, and carries an Apple to no greater a Perfection than a Crab:  That [our [2]] Melons, our Peaches, our Figs, our Apricots, and Cherries, are Strangers among us, imported in different Ages, and naturalized in our English Gardens; and that they would all degenerate and fall away into the Trash of our own Country, if they were wholly neglected by the Planter, and left to the Mercy of our Sun and Soil.  Nor has Traffick more enriched our Vegetable World, than it has improved the whole Face of Nature among us.  Our Ships are laden with the Harvest of every Climate:  Our Tables are stored with Spices, and Oils, and Wines:  Our Rooms are filled with Pyramids of China, and adorned with the Workmanship of Japan:  Our Morning’s Draught comes to us from the remotest